KILLSWITCH ENGAGE AUDITIONING NEW SINGERS… WHY?

Yesterday we ran a very silly post in which we hypothesized about possible new vocalists for Killswitch Engage, except that the majority of candidates we named are not realistic possibilites (more on that in a second). I know that there are people who were bummed that we didn’t consider more realistic potentialities, but there was a reason we didn’t do that — it seems to us that Jesse Leach is really the only man for this job. (And, yes, we know that Leach just told fans via Facebook that “If I have something to say, I WILL say it. For the moment I have no comments on KSE.” But what do you expect him to say?)

Leach isn’t just the obvious choice — he’s really the best choice. Because his voice is still in great shape; because he’s a great performer; and because in 2012, we’d like to think that bands have learned from the Gary Cherones, Blaze Bayleys, and Dan Nelsons of the world. Being the third singer for a really famous band is a thankless task, even if you’re really talented. Tommy Vext, for example, is a great vocalist — but if he really did join KsE, he would face a momentous uphill battle to be accepted by fans and come out from under the shadow of Leach and Jones. And history teaches us that he — or any other singer, for that matter — probably would not win that battle.

So. This message on Killswitch’s official website certainly caught me by surprise…

“We’ve been getting a lot of inquiries about the KsE singer position.  If you are interested, please send an MP3 or a song link, a photo and a brief description of yourself to the management email address provided in the contact section.  thanks KsE”

…because, like I said — Cherone, Bayley, and Nelson. The Unholy Trinity of poor dudes who really never stood a chance, and, in one instance, never even really got to have his chance.

Lambgoat speculates that KsE could just be “doing due diligence,” and I really hope that’s the case. Because I just can’t see this working with any other frontman, no matter how talented that frontman may be.

Unless they really DO wanna hire Ben Robson. I’d back that 110%. I still think he’d be out of the band after one album and tour, but I’d still back it.

If you’re brave and you wanna throw your hat in the ring, you can e-mail those audition materials to strongmanagement AT stronghq DOT com. Best of luck.

-AR